Prediction of Fatigue Crack Propagation in Circumferentially cracked pipe using CASCA and FRANC2D

Abstract

Pipes are subjected to different types of loading like internal pressure, tension, compression, bending or any combination of these. These different types of loading situation may initiate and propagate a crack. This becomes more significant if the pipes carry hazardous fluid. In this project TP316L stainless steel pipe is considered for study of propagation of an existing crack. Two methods are proposed to convert three dimensional study of pipe into a two dimensional study of a beam. A finite element based two dimensional crack propagation simulator software FRANC2D and a pre-processor software for this simulator CASCA developed by Cornell Fracture Group of Cornell University was used for simulation of crack propagation in two dimensional beam obtained by two methods and results found in both the cases were compared. These simulations were performed for four point bending test.